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by Sandra Chavez

I look at my life and realize how incredible it is to find myself at the GTU in Berkeley. I am an American citizen, born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, but my abuelita (grandmother) is quick to remind me, “Mexican comes before American. You are Mexican-American and do not forget it.”

The world is literally at our fingertips. Pull out your smart phone <tap tap tap> and you can Google huge libraries of information, see the world thanks to YouTube, and even converse via discussions boards, Facebook, Skype, and text. This ability to access information has revolutionized our culture, particularly how we view education.

Jody Passanisi, a.k.a. Jacqueline Pearce, (M.A. '05) with her colleague Shara Peters astutely observes in a post at Scientific American, “[E]ducated people were those who knew a great deal of information about one or many subjects...In this 'Age of Information,' access to facts and data is no longer available only to the educated elite...So, as a society, what is an 'educated person'?”

Articulating an answer to that query is difficult, but most educators agree that the Digital Revolution has changed the way that students learn and how we live everyday. So it's no surprise that more conversations and alterations are taking place to incorporate technology as a key component in the classroom.

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By the Book | Pursuing Academia while in Ministry

by Angela Yarber (Ph.D. ’10)

For nearly 14 years I’ve had a foot in the church and a foot in academia.

I had planned to pursue a career in the performing arts, majoring in musical theatre or dance in college. A conversion experience in a Christian church in my late teens shifted my plans for life and career. Fortunately, wonderful religion professors quickly taught me that my calling in ministry can coincide with my gifts in the arts and my deep interest in feminism. As a college freshman, I served as a youth minister.

I often describe my calling as a stool. The seat is social justice and the three legs are the church, the academy, and the arts.

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Laurie R. King (MA ‘84) was recently featured in an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel highlighting her career as a crime novelist exploring the connection between faith and fiction. King’s theological interests and training have found a creative outlet through crime novels.

Celebrated novelist, and proud Santa Cruzan, Laurie R. King has two great intellectual passions. As her international fan base is already aware, one of those is writing smart and gripping crime fiction. But, as few may know, the other is religion.

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When it comes to horror films, a dash of holy water, a priest waving a cross, and some unintelligible Latin usually provide enough legitimacy to make the most demonic possessions believable to the general population. But when brothers Chad and Carey Hayes set to writing their most recent screenplay, they wanted an accurate portrayal more than dramatic. Diana Walsh-Pasulka (M.A.

Following our Commencement ceremony on May 9, 2013, newly minted Dr. Ricky Manalo ('13) was profiled by the Catholic Sentinel. During Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, two of Manalo's compositions were selected for Mass.

Father Ricky Manalo, a priest in the Paulist order, earned a doctorate in Asian-American liturgical studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.